OWENSBORO, Ky. (10/18/13) – U.S. Sen. Rand Paul made two stops in Owensboro on Thursday, telling the audience at his first visit as part of an Owensboro Health symposium that he regrets Republicans weren’t able to compromise with Democrats in Washington on the Affordable Health Care Act, and that it will add as much as $2.6 trillion to the already ballooning federal deficit.

“We borrow $1 million a minute and didn’t change anything,” Paul said of the agreement reached to reopen the government after a lengthy shutdown this month. “We continue to spend at an alarming rate.”

His comments at the first stop came at the end of a two-hour “Health Policy Leadership Briefing” hosted by Owensboro Health. Other speakers at the venue shared information on new insurance exchanges, where to find them online, and how they work. A panel of four state lawmakers – Sens. Jerry Rhoads and Joe Bowen, and Reps. Tommy Thompson and Ben Waide – also discussed their take on the Kentucky insurance exchanges as part of a roundtable talk.

At his second stop, the Owensboro Right to Life annual fundraiser, Sen. Paul addressed a crowd of more than 1,000 guests – the most that have ever attended such an event, organizers said during the dinner.

Paul pledged his commitment to upholding pro-life views as he recalled the story of “Gattaca,” a science fiction movie about a society that manipulates DNA at birth to root out imperfections. People who are born naturally are second-class citizens in the movie, and the story is about a man who cheats his way into a better life by buying blood and urine samples from a paralyzed man who was genetically altered at birth.

Paul warned that the danger of making arbitrary life decisions could have unforeseen repercussions, and said most doctors adhere strictly to the oath they take to “do no harm.”